Dilemmas of European Integration

The Ambiguities and Pitfalls of Integration by Stealth

Giandomenico Majone

Major analysis of the pitfalls and amabiguities of 50 years of European integration which also recognizes the importance of what has been achieved thus far

Controversially demonstrates that the EU is a failed federation, but a successful confederation

Dilemmas of European Integration

The Ambiguities and Pitfalls of Integration by Stealth

Giandomenico Majone

Description

If one lesson emerges clearly from fifty years of European integration it is that political aims should be pursued by overtly political means, and not by roundabout economic or legal strategies. The functionalist strategy of promoting spillovers from one economic sector to another has failed to achieve a steady progress towards a federal union, as Jean Monnet and other functionalists had hoped. On the other hand, the unanticipated results of 'integration through law' have included over-regulation and an institutional framework which is too rigid to allow significant policy and institutional innovations. Thus, integration by stealth has produced sub-optimal policies and a steady loss of legitimacy by the supranational institutions. Both the functionalist approach and the classic Community Method are becoming obsolete.

This major statement from a leading European scholar provides the most thorough analysis currently available of the pitfalls and ambiguities of 50 years of European integration, without losing sight of its benefits. Majone provides a clear demonstration of how a number of European policies - including environmental protection - lack a logically defensible rationale, while showing how, in other cases, objectives may be better achieved by re-nationalizing the policy in question. He also shows how, in an information-rich environment, co-ordination by mutual adjustment becomes possible, meaning that member states are no longer as dependent on central institutions as in the past. He explains how the challenge for future research is to investigate methods-other than delegation to supranational institutions-by which member states can credibly commit themselves to collective action.

Dilemmas of European Integration concludes by explaining exactly why the model of a United States of Europe is bound to fail-not just due to lack of popular support, but because it finds itself unable to deliver the public goods which Europeans expect to receive from a full fledged government. Although failing as a would-be federation, the present Union could become an effective confederation, built on the solid foundation of market integration. The new Constitutional Treaty, Majone argues, seems to point in this direction.

Dilemmas of European Integration

The Ambiguities and Pitfalls of Integration by Stealth

Giandomenico Majone

Author Information

Giandomenico Majone, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy at the European University Institute, Florence

Dilemmas of European Integration

The Ambiguities and Pitfalls of Integration by Stealth

Giandomenico Majone

Reviews and Awards

Review from previous edition Giandomenico Majone's Dilemmas of European Integration: The Ambiguities and Pitfalls of Integration by Stealth represents a major statement of academic theory by a leading scholar of European integration. Clearly written and enjoyable to read, this monograph offers a thought provoking analysis of some of the pressing constitutional problems facing the European Union, and proposes a challenging thesis about the best way of resolving them... Majone's book is an invitation to rediscover why European integration is such a rewarding field of study. - European Law Review

Majone's intellectual journey has resulted in this book having strengths which make it unsurpassed as a point of first reference for all students, teachers and policy-makers interested in the European Union. It combines Majone's unrivalled insights into the nature of the policy-making process and his eye for detail with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the European Union, and an increasing eagerness to engage, albeit in a highly practical way, with broader questions of political theory and justification. - West European Politics